MADISON, Wis. – In a battle of nationally ranked teams down to the wire, Cornell's women's tennis team was narrowly outlasted by Lake Forest College 4-3 in the Midwest Conference Semi-Finals on Saturday afternoon at the John Powless Tennis Center.
#54 ranked Cornell, made their eighth postseason appearance in the past ten years, and concluded the 2025-2026 dual season with a 24-4 record. #67 ranked Lake Forest advanced to the championship match, and fell to No. 1 seed Grinnell 4-0. Grinnell earned the automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Exchanging momentum swings in doubles, Cornell struck first with a 6-4 win at No. 3 from
Audrey Small/
Jenna Benkufsky. The Foresters claimed the next match to finish at No. 2 also by a 6-4 scoreline. No. 1 tandem of
Michaela Clark/
Mac Graves went to a tiebreaker to decide the doubles point, and narrowly fell 7-6 (4) giving Lake Forest the team point.
In singles play, all six matches were split between the two teams. The Rams earned victories from
Tansy Graves at No. 3 (7-5 7-5), Benkufsky at No. 5 (6-4 6-3) and
Annika Dox at No. 6 (7-5 6-0). Lake Forest claimed the other three wins at No. 2, No. 4 and a third set win at No. 1.
Cornell concluded a historic season setting the single season dual wins record at 24. The Rams earned a national ranking for the first time since 2003, as well as defeating Coe College for the first time since 2004 and defeating Augustana College for the first time since 2011.
Mac Graves finished the season with a team best 46-13 record, earning 100 wins in her sophomore and junior seasons combined. Graves and
Michaela Clark finished the year with a 23-7 record as partners, with an 18-4 mark in dual match play.
Tansy Graves eclipsed the 100 career win milestone this spring and currently sits at 110 victories to her name.
Seniors
Ashley Drake and
Audrey Small concluded their careers with the Rams. Drake finished with 40 career wins, and earned ITA Scholar-Athlete status, as well as MWC All-Academic honors three times.
Small ends her career with 131 career wins (tied for seventh all-time in program history). She claimed the 2025 #3 Doubles MWC Title.
